


After Peachtrees

by cowboykylux



Category: Dredd (2012), Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: But Here Take This Anyway lol, Fluff, M/M, Mild Gore, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Strangers to Lovers, Techie's New Name Sucks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 22:38:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11610399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboykylux/pseuds/cowboykylux
Summary: Ma-ma is dead and Peachtrees is gone. Can a shy technician possibly find peace after a lifetime of terror?Yes, yes he can.





	After Peachtrees

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so we can collectively agree that Bill Huxely is a dumb name, but you know what someone had to write something with this new info, so don't be too mad at me! xxx

His entire life he never knew what to say when people asked who the hell he was. That’s always how they said it, _who the hell are you?_

“Ma-ma, who the hell is this?” A gruff voice once asked, still so clear in his memory.

“This is the new Peachtrees Technician.” Her nails had clawed into his shoulder blades like knives, a terrible precursor to the abuses yet to come. If only Techie had known that then, he thought things might be different. No one would tell him what happened to the old Peachtrees Technician, if there ever was one. He was constantly torn between wanting to find out and wanting to remain in blissful ignorance. Looking back, he never really got the chance to ask.

“Technician huh? That’s a bit of a mouthful.” The voice had sneered, before shoving a packet of printed code for him to memorize, passwords to computers larger than he was.

And it was. It was a mouthful to call up the _Peachtrees Technician_ , the _Clan Technician_ , whatever they were calling themselves that day. So they slowly dropped the title, chipping it away further and further just like they did his sanity, and his health, until he was nothing more than Techie. Just Techie.

But now, _now,_ Ma-ma was gone. Ma-ma was gone, and Peachtrees was no more, all thanks to a Judge and his apprentice, and he was no longer a Techie. It was terrifying in how liberating that realization had been.

But then, what the hell did he call himself?

Techie had been long gone before the dust had even settled, wandering the streets of his little city, trying to keep his head down and stay out of trouble. It was there, trying to avoid any human interaction hidden away in a back alley that he collided with the solid mass of a man, immediately cowering in fear of being punished. God knows how Ma-ma liked to punish him.

“Woah, easy there. Are you alright?” The man asked, not nearly as mean or cold as the men from Peachtrees.

He didn’t answer, instead attempting to flee, but the man caught his wrist by the ratty sleeve of his yellow jumper and frowned.

“Please, don’t be scared.” The man said, staring at him for a long while. Techie refused to meet his gaze, trying to spare the man from seeing the rusted bionic eyes embedded into his head, not wanting him to face the horrors of how his real ones had been gouged out by a mad woman hell bent on being vicious. “You look like you could use something to eat.”

Techie did look up then, at the warm brown eyes he saw, the iris of his own blue ones clicking open to better adjust focus. The man didn't so much as flinch when they held eye contact, and Techie didn't dare try to express how grateful that made him, lest he trip over his words and make a fool of himself to the only person who had ever shown him kindness. 

“Are you hungry?” The man asked, and Techie blinked. The man took that as a yes.

 

* * *

 

And that had started what Techie could only describe as a beautiful friendship. This huge blonde man with a hair trigger temper never once raised his voice at Techie when they met one another out on the streets. They crossed paths every day, Techie going to work (a construction job he had managed to acquire by sheer luck) and the man coming home from it. He was always dressed up in blue coveralls, so maybe he was a technician too. Maybe he did electrical work, or radar maintenance. 

Once a week they ate together at the same little diner they shared their first meal in, until eventually the diner stopped asking them what they wanted to eat and already had it prepared by the time they came in. They talked about work (he was indeed a radar technician, Techie was pretty proud for guessing correctly) and about life, how neither of them had any other friends outside one another, and how they were both so glad to have a caring person to talk to.

The man never asked him his name, and for that Techie was grateful, because he didn’t have one to give.

He often daydreamed about what the man was called, if he had a strange nickname like his own. Names like Adam, Kyle, or even Phillip crossed his mind, but none of them felt like they fit. The more he got to know his new friend, the harder Techie fell for him. His kind eyes and goofy laugh, with beautifully crooked teeth and a scrunched up nose, had Techie reeling. If the lingering touches and longing looks were anything to go by, maybe there was hope this man felt the same way.

“Would you like to come to my place?” The man asked one day, slurping the last few drops of his vanilla milkshake.

“I’d l-love to!” Techie grinned, eager to see if the life this man lived was in any way similar to the one he concocted in his head. He was always doing that at Peachtrees, unable to help the daydreams from forming when he spied on people who would never live long enough to notice.

They found themselves in a standard mass construction block, typical housing for regular people. Hundreds of citizens packed in like sardines, but such was the reality of the city. Techie had never been in one, occasionally he would hack into them from the big computers, or he would see them from the windows when he took a break once a week, but to step into the decently clean elevators as a guest was an entirely new experience.

“I’ve got some leftovers here I can reheat, do you like pasta?” The man asked over his shoulder.

He still hadn’t asked Techie his name.

“Y-yes.” Came the shy response. Truthfully, Techie didn’t know if he liked pasta, but he was so hungry he would be willing to eat just about anything.

They sat in peaceful silence next to the radiator, where Techie warmed his joints and filled up on penne.

 

The man asked Techie to stay, and he agreed.

 

* * *

 

“What’s your name?” Techie asked the next morning, sharing a pot of black coffee dressed only in a white t-shirt three sizes too big for him, but warm from sleeping on soft sheets tucked up against this furnace of a man, skin still pink from kisses pressed into his freckles.

“Matthew Leman.” His rescuer, his _friend_ , Matthew held out a hand to shake. It was funny, shaking his hand now. It seemed so much larger than his own in the morning light, and Techie let out a small laugh thinking how backwards they were doing all this.

“Matthew is a nice name.” He said, proud of his voice for remaining steady. It was perfect, it fit him absolutely wonderfully. He was already drawing mental hearts behind his eyelids, trying to match his name to Matt’s. He knew he shouldn't rush into anything, but after weeks and weeks of waiting to kiss those lips, now that he had -- well, he was thoroughly in love. 

“You can call me Matt Lee, if you’d like.” Matt, smiled back. His smiles weren’t cruel, they were warm, like honey or chocolate syrup. He didn’t feel afraid around Matt, especially after the promises that had been whispered into his skin, the vows they exchanged in the dark.

Matt still didn’t ask his name. Matt never pressed any issue, over the months they knew each other, but he thought it was time to move on. Time to be his own person and leave Ma-ma far behind him. After all, there was nothing she could do to him now.

“I’m William. William Huxely.” He blurted, remembering a name from a long time ago that echoed in his skull like a shout across the galaxy.

“William is a nice name.” Matt grinned up at him, threading their fingers together and pulling his hand up for a kiss.

“You can call me Bill, if you’d like.” Techie – no, _Bill_ replied, blushing furiously at the attention, cheekily repeating Matt’s words because he was currently too over the moon in love to come up with any of his own. “Bill Hux.”

That name was familiar too, spilling from his lips without a second thought. That was a name people would come to recognize, he thought. That was a name people could respect.

 

If he had ever been told his life would turn out like this, being given a hot shower and some clean clothes by a kind man with blonde curls hiding ears so big he could hang cables over them, leading to a whole long year of safety and security, he would have laughed.

If he had ever been told he would fall in love with this man, who treated him with respect and care, who held him when the nightmares came, who woke up every morning at the same time as him so they could drink a cup of coffee together before going their separate ways for the day, he would have had them sent for a psych-evaluation.

But here they were, in this small apartment in the city. Bill and Matt, Matt and Bill.

It was more than a Techie could ever hope for.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! Techienician is such a fluff ship for me, when the news of Techie's new name surfaced, I just had to write a little something for it. If you'd like to come chat with me about these boys or kylux, you can find me on tumblr at @cowboykylux ! xxxx


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